Forex trading hours – where is the “catch”? | Forex Market News and Analysis

Forex trading hours – where is the “catch”?

Every minute in the Forex market counts. One minute you notice a currency is increasing in value, the next you notice that the same kind of currency you noticed a minute ago is decreasing in value. This is why you should consider the fact that Forex market is a very dynamic market with lots of price oscillations. By the way check the footer of this article for very useful free tool.

Minute by minute events are very important in order for you to be successful. Because of this feature that is found in the Forex market, you, as a Forex trader, can enter the market a number of times a day. This will allow you to earn some profits after every number of trades you do and perhaps maybe even lose one if you made the wrong trading decision.

Firstly, you have to remember that the Forex market beings at Sunday at 5PM EST to Friday at 4PM EST then it beings again at 5PM EST. Trading begins in Forex at New Zealand next at Australia followed by Asia, in the Middle East, Europe and ends in America. The major markets in Forex are London, Tokyo and New York with trading activities the heaviest when major markets overlap.

Basing from the times, you will see that there will always be someone anywhere in the world who is buying and selling currencies. You will see that when one market closes, another market opens. Trading in the Forex market is 24 hours a day.

Forex market transaction volume is always high during the whole day. However, it peaks the highest when the Asian market, the European market and the US market opens at the same time.

These are the trading hours in the Forex market you have to trade in, in order to get the highest possible trades. This are the hours that are also the most profitable.

* Forex is 24 hour market – It starts from Sunday 5pm EST through Friday 4pm EST. Rollover at 5pm EST

* Forex Trading begins in New Zealand, followed by Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and America

* The US & UK account for more than 50% of the market transactions

* Forex Major markets: London, New York, Tokyo

* Nearly two-thirds of NY activity occurs in the morning hours while European markets are open

* Forex Trading activity is heaviest when major markets overlap.

From this timing facts, it is quite visible that at any given time, somebody somewhere in the world is buying and selling currencies. As one market closes, another market opens. Business hours overlap, and the exchange continues as day becomes night and night becomes day.

Forex market volume of transactions remains high during the whole day, but peaks highest when the Asian market(including Australia & New Zealand), the European market and the U.S. market are open simultaneously. And these are the trading hours you must target in order to find the highest possible amount of profitable trades.

This is the breakdown of OPEN Market Times for your reference:

* New York Market trade times: 8am-4pm EST
* London Market trade times: 2am-12Noon EST
* Great Britain Market trade times: 3am-11am EST
* Tokyo Market trade times: 8pm-4am EST
* Australia Market trade times: 7pm-3am EST

Forex Global Market Trading Hours

	Sydney AST	Tokyo JST	London GMT	New York EST	Los Angeles PST
Australian Open	9:00	23:00 prev.day	22:00	17:00	14:00
Japan economic releases	10:50	0:50	23:50	18:50	15:50
Asian Open	11:00	1:00	0:00	19:00	16:00
Asian slowing	14:00	4:00	3:00	22:00	19:00
European Open	18:00	8:00	7:00	2:00	23:00 prev.day
Eurozone economic releases	18:45 …	8:45 …	7:45 …	2:45 …	23:45
London Open	19:00	9:00	8:00	3:00	0:00
UK economic releases	20:30	10:30	9:30	4:30	1:30
New York Open	0:00	14:00	13:00	8:00	5:00
USA economic releases	0:30	14:30	13:30	8:30	5:30
London Close	4:00	18:00	15:00	12:00	7:00
US Closing (IMM)	7:00	21:00	20:00	15:00	13:00

If you pay attention to the last schedule you will notice that there are two times when two of the major markets overlap during trading hours; between 2am and 4am EST (Asian/European) and between 8am to 12pm EST(European/N. American).

So here you have it, if you want to find a great number of profitable trades, focus on the hours when the markets tend to make their biggest moves, i.e., during these big markets overlaps, which therefore, are usually the Best Times to Trade

Finally you may want to download this very useful free desktop tool and you can watch the world market times. Here is a shot – you can see how it looks like.

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Posted by admin on Jul 4th, 2009 and filed under Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

1 Response for “Forex trading hours – where is the “catch”?”

How good forex traders manage their actions? | Forex Market Tips and Analysis says:

August 5, 2009 at 6:39 pm

[...] Trading in the financial markets is surrounded by a certain amount of mystique because there is no single formula for trading successfully. Think of the markets as being like the ocean and the trader as a surfer. Surfing requires talent, balance, patience, proper equipment and astute discrimination. Would you go into the water if there were sharks swimming all around you or dangerous rip tides? Hopefully not. [...]